I bought my current home last year. Last fall I noticed several areas in the lawn turning brown and those areas didn't turn green until later in the spring. At the time I thought it was zoysia grass and now I am convinced it is zoysia. It is gradually creeping into more areas of my lawn. If I over seed in the spring with bluegrass and perennial rye after power raking the lawn, will the zoysia just take over again or will the variety of grasses grow together. I hate the thought of killing the zoysia with roundup as it is so widely spread in my entire lawn. What do you sggest? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Dear Nancy:

The zoyzia spreads with underground rhizomes and even if you were to power rake and remove all of the tops, I suspect that it will regrow from the roots and come back right later on when the soils warm and be there along with your rye and bluegrasses sown earlier. You will have certainly set it back substancially, but not have gotten rid of it. You may be able to make the lawn acceptable to you, living with zoysia and your cool season grasses if you reseed/overseed every year or every other year. The zoysia really grows well when your blues and ryes do not - in the heat of the summer. Keeping the blues and ryes alive and actively growing will make them more competetive with the zoysia. Before you tackle the whole lawn, consider experimenting in a small area for another year before you commit to a larger project.

Sincerely, Richard